Burns, a council ally of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, stepped down as alderman in early 2016 to become Airbnb’s Midwest director of policy.

A few months later he called Emanuel administration official Michael Rendina to urge that changes be made in the “process by which the company and the city could come to an agreement” on a pending ordinance to...

Related "Airbnb" Articles

Former Hyde Park Ald. Will Burns has agreed to pay a $5,000 fine for lobbying the city too soon after he stepped down from the City Council and took a corporate job with vacation rental listing giant Airbnb.
Burns, a council ally of Mayor Rahm Emanuel,...

Tinley Park officials are moving forward with plans to license and regulate short-term rentals of homes in response to complaints from residents about one such property.
As an income source, homeowners will rent rooms or an entire house on online sites...

A series of developments on Lake Forest’s rail situation, leadership changes and a new lease on life for a local golf course marked some of the biggest area stories in 2018.
Rail projects
The controversial idea of putting a third main rail track in Lake...

Airbnb announced Thursday that it will begin testing prototype homes as soon as next year to accommodate the needs of owners or occupants who rent and share living spaces.
The new project, called Backyard, is "an initiative to prototype new ways that...

Airbnb had its best quarter ever, even as cities across the U.S. have started clamping down on the short-term rental market.
Revenue during the third quarter breezed past the $1 billion level as guest reservations boomed internationally in places like...

Travelers sometimes want a cookie-cutter room in a downtown hotel, and they sometimes want a cozy Tuscan farmhouse to share with friends.
Hotels have always been good at providing the first one. Now, they're trying to figure out how to provide the second...

Tennis superstar Venus Williams came to Chicago’s The Hotel at Midtown Athletic Club last month for a trunk show to promote new looks from her athleisure brand EleVen.
She sat on a velvety, jewel-toned green couch in a hotel suite called the V Suite,...

Nike caused an uproar earlier this month with its ad featuring former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick that debuted just as the football season was about to begin. But the shoe maker's stock is up and sales have been steady.
The furor seems to have...

The travel bug has bitten Illinoisans. Hard.
The state ranks No. 3 in the nation when it comes to residents’ penchant for travel, according to new data from Digital Third Coast, a Chicago-based digital marketing firm.
The company crunched data from...

This week is a continuation of last week’s Help Squad column, which looked at a complaint from an Airbnb guest, Stefanie, who said she was evicted from an Airbnb host’s filthy apartment in Chicago less than 48 hours after she checked in.
Stefanie’s...

In October 2017, I got a job offer in Chicago and traveled cross country by car with all my belongings from San Francisco. I reserved a monthly Airbnb rental as I did not know Chicago well and would then have time to research places to live.
I arrived...

Short-term lodging has officially been given the green light for West Dundee’s downtown business district.
On Monday, trustees approved amending the village’s code to allow commercial property owners to rent out upper-level residential units for up to 30...

Buying a car is a bad investment, according to conventional wisdom. After the steep initial cost of about $35,000 on average, owners are going to keep spending money on gas, maintenance, insurance, depreciation, financing and sundry other costs. AAA...

Nearly 1 in 10 hosts who rent out their apartments, homes and spaces on Airbnb are teachers, according to a new survey by the company, another possible indicator of the hardship facing members of the profession as wages fall or stagnate compared with...

Airbnb hosts throughout Chicago are concerned and confused after receiving notices from the city last week informing them they could face potential fines if they don’t remove their units from the home-sharing platform within seven days.
The more than...

As long as you can get over any uneasiness with 20-something men with beards and tattoos, Lollapalooza-goers are a moneymaking venture this weekend, jokes Rebecca Braithwaite, an Airbnb host in Hyde Park.
Braithwaite is among hundreds of Airbnb hosts...

One of the most liberating features of the online world we live in is that we can offer to others so much of what we own — for the right price. That ratty futon you can’t stand? Someone will snatch it up on eBay. Need some cash around the time...

West Dundee is set to add another amenity to its roster of downtown offerings.
Already home to several restaurants, a music venue, an arcade and a candy shop, visitors will soon also find short-term lodging options.
A group of business partners,...

Close to 3,000 people used Airbnb to stay in Naperville in 2017, and the company will soon begin collecting the city’s hotel/motel tax on those overnight stays booked through the online rental company.
The 2,900 people who booked rooms or homes in...

Airbnb rentals help local economies by driving restaurant traffic and employment in a handful of U.S. cities, but not in predominantly black or Hispanic neighborhoods, according to a study from Purdue University.
The findings run counter to Airbnb’s...